June 4, 2014 AT 7:00 am

Proxima Jacket #WearableWednesday

The seed of the idea for this year’s piece grew out of a desire to explore the visual articulation of closeness, and how a garment might react to the presence of another person. The jacket has been programmed to light up based on the proximity of RFID tags hidden within the male dancer’s costume, meaning that during the show it lit up only in his presence. The closer he came to the female dancer, the more the lights sparkled.

The jacket was programmed to respond not only to proximity, but also directionality. So, when our dancers Megan and Ben faced each other, the front of Megan’s jacket lit up, and as she moved around him, the light would follow whichever part of her body was closest to his.